The Taming of the Shrew (The Annotated Shakespeare)

The Taming of the Shrew (The Annotated Shakespeare)

The Annotated Shakespeare series enables readers to fully understand and enjoy the plays of the world’s greatest dramatist   In one of Shakespeare’s bawdier comedies, contemporary audiences still take great pleasure in the rapid-fire verbal battles between the shrewish Katharina and the canny Petruchio, determined to subdue Katharina’s legendary temper and win her dowry. This fully annotated version of The Taming of the Shrew makes the play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century.   Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary, pronunciation, and prosody and provides alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations give readers all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. “A comedy . . . get[s] Yale’s red-carpet treatment.”— Library Journal Selected by the Association of American University Presses for Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2006 Selected by the Association of American University Presses as an Outstanding Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2005 Featured by the American Library Association as one of the “Best of the Best from the University Presses: Books you should know about” Burton Raffel (1928–2015) was professor of arts and humanities emeritus and professor of English emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Among his many edited and translated publications are Poems and Prose from the Old English, Cligès, Lancelot, Perceval, Erec and Enide , and Yvain . Harold Bloom (1930–2019) was Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at New York University. His many books include The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human , and Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds . The Taming of the Shrew By William Shakespeare Yale University Press Copyright © 2005 Yale University All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-300-10982-5 Contents About This Book................................................ixIntroduction...................................................xixSome Essentials of the Shakespearean Stage.....................xxxvThe Taming of the Shrew........................................1An Essay by Harold Bloom.......................................155Further Reading................................................165Finding List...................................................171 Chapter One Shakespeare's Introduction SCENE I In front of an alehouse ENTER Hostess and Sly Sly I'll pheeze you, in faith. Hostess A pair of stocks, you rogue! Sly Y'are a baggage, the Slys are no rogues. Look in the Chronicles, we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore, paucas pallabris, let the world slide. Sessa! 5 Hostess You will not pay for the glasses you have burst? Sly No, not a denier. Go by, Saint Jeronimy, go to thy cold bed and warm thee. Hostess I know my remedy, I must go fetch the third-borough. EXIT Hostess Sly Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I'll answer him by 10 law. I'll not budge an inch, boy. Let him come, and kindly. LIES DOWN ON THE GROUND, AND FALLS INTO A DRUNKEN SLEEP sound of hunting horns. Enter a Lord, with Huntsmen and Servants Lord Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds. Brach Merriman, the poor cur, is embossed. And couple Clowder with the deep-mouthed brach. 15 Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault? I would not lose the dog for twenty pound. Huntsman 1 Why, Bellman is as good as he, my lord, He cried upon it at the merest loss, 20 And twice today picked out the dullest scent. Trust me, I take him for the better dog. Lord Thou art a fool. If Echo were as fleet, I would esteem him worth a dozen such. But sup them well, and look unto them all. 25 Tomorrow I intend to hunt again. Huntsman 1 I will, my lord. Lord ( seeing Sly ) What's here? One dead, or drunk? See doth he breathe. Huntsman 2 He breathes, my lord. Were he not warmed with ale, This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly. 30 Lord O monstrous beast, how like a swine he lies! Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image. Sirs, I will practice on this drunken man. What think you, if he were conveyed to bed, Wrapped in sweet clothes, rings put upon his fingers, 35 A most delicious banquet by his bed, And brave attendants near him when he wakes, Would not the beggar then forget himself? Huntsman 1 Believe me, lord, I think he cannot choose. Huntsman 2 It would seem strange unto him when he waked. 40 Lord Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy. Then take him up, and manage well the jest. Carry him gently to my fairest chamber, And hang it round with all my wanton pictures. Balm his foul head in warm distilld waters, 45 And burn sweet wood to make the lodging sweet. Procure me music ready when he wakes, To make a dulcet and a he